The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $10 million grant to build a new regional rail transportation center on the proposed University of Delaware Science and Technology campus under the U.S. Department of Transportation's $500 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2012 program.

The $26 million Newark Regional Transportation Center is expected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs, according to the Wilmington Area Planning Council. It will be located on the proposed University of Delaware Science and Technology campus, on the site of a vacant Chrysler Assembly plant. The project was planned and designed using TIGER II planning funds.

The new transportation center, which replaces the current rail station nearby, will serve more than 20,000 future students anticipated at the new campus, in addition to 30,000 residents of the city of Newark and surrounding communities and more than one million travelers a year who use Amtrak and regional commuter rail service connecting Newark with Philadelphia.